Rory Stewart breaks silence on viral Newsnight clip in exclusive message
Rory Stewart has broken his silence on a viral Newsnight clip in an exclusive message, saying he was frustrated and had disabled social media while abroad.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Rory Stewart has broken his silence on a viral clip from his appearance on Newsnight, telling the programme he was frustrated to have missed the reaction while he was abroad.
The clip came from last week's panel on the seven o'clock programme. It was watched by tens of millions of people across social media, spawned countless memes and generated widespread news coverage. Some of the memes compared the moment to overtaking a driver sitting in the middle lane for no reason, or to a child asking whether a parent had said they could get an ice cream.
Stewart, a former Conservative minister turned political commentator, had not commented until today. In an exclusive message for Newsnight, he said: 'Hello, Matt, and the Newsnight team. I'm frustrated. As you can see, I'm just coming back from abroad. And I've missed all my sort of lessons. I was on an army base and then I've been away. And under strict instructions from my family, I have disabled all the social media on this phone. But, you know, I really don't know what to say. Thank you.'
The programme returned to the clip at the top of its panel discussion. It said the new panel had a high bar to clear after the success of Stewart's appearance. The panel included former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson, writer and podcaster Marina Hyde, and Lawrence Newport, chief executive and founder of the campaign group Looking For Growth. Hyde called the viral moment a reaction gift that had become instantly iconic. She said stars who had gone viral before, including Jennifer Lawrence and Chrissy Teigen, should step aside because there was a new sheriff in town. Johnson also mentioned his own viral moment from The Masked Singer, where he was the first contestant to be thrown off.
After that, the programme moved to politics. It looked ahead to Andy Burnham's first Labour conference address as prime minister in Liverpool, with a live interview planned with Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson. It also discussed whether Burnham should seek his own mandate by calling an election.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC Two |
|---|---|
| A clip of Rory Stewart from the previous week's Newsnight panel was watched tens of millions of times on social media. | |
| Rory Stewart broke his silence in an exclusive Newsnight message, saying he had been on an army base and abroad and had disabled social media under family instructions. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC Two's Newsnight led on the viral clip and secured Rory Stewart's first response. Its tone mixed playful meme references with the detail of his silence and social media blackout. The segment then pivoted to Labour conference politics.
- “Until today, when he broke his silence in an exclusive message for Newsnight.”
- “Hello, Matt, and the Newsnight team. I'm frustrated.”
- “under strict instructions from my family, I have disabled all the social media on this phone.”
Who was on air
People and organisations each channel put on air while covering this story. Channels' own presenters and reporters are not listed. Names as transcribed, and the list can miss people.
- 19:05 BST
Rory Stewart, Tory Minister turned political commentator
“Hello, Matt, and the Newsnight team.”
Newsnight, followed by Weather · Fri 25 Sept - 19:06 BST
Marina Hyde, author of What A Time To Be Alive and host of the rest is Entertainment podcast
“Well, it is a reaction gift”
Newsnight, followed by Weather · Fri 25 Sept
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.